About Rick Roderick
Rick Roderick was born in Abilene, Texas on June 16, 1949, and received his bachelor’s degree at University of Texas, Austin, Texas. He did post-graduate work at Baylor University, and earned his Ph. D. at University of Texas, Austin, Texas. From 1977 to 1978, he was the editor of the Baylor Philosophy Journal, and from 1977 to 1979 he was a member of the Phi Sigma Tau National Honor Society of Philosophy. He was the recipient of the Oldright Fellowship at the University of Texas and served as associate editor to The Pawn Review, and Current Perspectives in Social Theory. He was the undergraduate director of the Duke Marxism and Society Program. He is the author of the book Habermas and the Foundation of Critical Theory (1986), as well as numerous articles in professional journals. He has presented over 24 papers, and published 13 reviews and literary criticisms. From 1977 to 1993, he taught Philosophy, first at Baylor, then University of Texas and then at Duke University.

His areas of specialization were Marx and Marxism, Social and Political philosophy, Critical Theory (Habermas and the Frankfurt School), 19th Century Philosophy, and Contemporary Continental Philosophy. He also taught Ethics, Logic, History of Modern Philosophy, Aesthetics and Existentialism.

He was a four-time nominee for the Alumni Undergraduate Distinguished Professor Teaching Award and has been recognized by the Smithsonian Institute as the best teacher in his field. His “The Philosophy of Human Values” lecture series has been the best selling videotape in the history of academia. He has been published in five countries. His “Habermas and the Foundations of Critical Theory” is an internationally recognized standard in the field. His work has been studied and reviewed worldwide–India, China, Denmark, Germany, etc.

Rick was controversially denied tenure at Duke University in 1993. Very little is known about the circumstances or what happened next. He died on January 18, 2002 of congestive heart failure.

I hope you enjoy these lectures as much as I do… I have listened to them countless times. As the years go by they only become more poignant and eerily prophetic. Bear in mind that the internet and smart phones did not exist when these lectures were recorded.

My son studies Sociology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. When he takes time off he comes back to us, his parents, in San Diego, CA. We spend time watching your lectures in You Tube. Do you give lectures in Southern California? We would love to attend if you do so.

I was just mesmerized by these lectures. I just stumbled into them on you tube. I was born in 1949. His death was a real loss. Thank God he recorded his lectures for future generations. Wonder how he died?

Enter your comments here…hello to the Roderick clan i found this web page by default
I am on a spirtual path and feel there is a reason why I come here
I will look at ricks work and see what it’s all about and why I stumbled across it

Wow… talk about immortality. I just discovered a great man today and I wanted to tell him, one Texan to another, that his lectures are amazing, his humor sublime. Alas, I am 12 years too late… but, it is almost fitting, after his last remarks on Heidegger (lecture 2 in Self Under Siege) he says, “…but for now that’s all except be sure and fear death. I mean, that’s important to being human. Fear death and realise that even if you don’t smoke, and even if you jog, you are still going to die, and that should come as a great relief to all of you.”

About Dr. Roderick: From following his lectures the following: I like his style. I like the fact that he puts humor into what he says and I like the fact that he says what he wants to say without ambiguity.

I really wish I could have met him and studied him a bit more (through latter works, had he lived longer)It is a pity that he died at such a young age, but alas, I agree with Frank, no one knows the time or date, but that death comes for us all is sure. And here I also admire his honesty, few philosophers acknowledge the terrible specter of death.

The YouTube videos of Rick’s lectures are fantastic, and sadly I’m just discovering them. I’m going to a country that blocks youtube.com, however, and thus I’m going to lose access to Rick’s wonderful video lecture series, as it is blocked in that country). I wonder if anyone knows of a hidden place where I can find the videos (other than youtube)? I couldn’t even find a dvd for sale on amazon (audio casettes only, and who has an audio player these days?).

I might be starting a B.A. Honours degree in Philosophy in 2015. I’ll take a look through the website also, but are there any possible subjects with Dr. Roderick in mind that I can explore for a mini-dissertation? Perhaps something biographical (about his life), or thematic (some of the subject matter he intended to be expounded on). Thanks! Omar Fourie.

His favourite topic was Habermas, I think some fun could be had analysing how close social media (especially twitter) gets us to “undistorted communication”. I wonder occasionally what Rick would have thought about it.

It would be even further interesting to see what he would have to say about the distortion of communication we’ve possibly witnessed by bots, foreign agents, and private influence firms like C.A. on the internet as of late. I would have agreed that the modern internet–through events like the early Arab Spring (but now I have my doubts)–seemed to display clear communication, but now I might argue that it has perhaps shown most clearly just how difficult undistorted communication can be to achieve.

I haven’t read Habermas’ theories in detail as to how a society could reach undistorted communication/clear communicative action; I’m more learned in some of his critics, like Lyotard, who see rational, clear communication as impossible, although that doesn’t mean I completely agree with them. However, I have a suspicion that Rick would be a bit wary about the internet, or any “damned machine”, being the path to human clear communicative action.

I do wish Rick was around. I’m looking for the right graduate program, and although I had great teachers, I never had anyone put “what matters” and theory together like Rick did in just three lecture series. I ache for that mix of social/political philosophy, Marxism, Adorno/Marcuse, and Nietzsche. My professors and books always gave me a piece of the puzzle, but no one ever made it all come together the way these lectures did for me.

A brilliant series of lectures. I loved the detailed presentation of the works of Nietzsche. Hardly anyone appreciates his works with a positive, non-nihilistic approach that also offers in a way, a critique of postmodernism. i’m so glad that such lecture series are put up online.

I was introduced to Dr. Rocderick in a Contemporary Sociological Theory Course. This guy is fantastic! I wish I had known him, studied under him. Thanks to whomever has put this sight together and keep his lecutures available. I was searching for more helpful lectures on Mill and Utilitarianism. I am glad to find Dr. R again. I will be back.
Thank you,
Student at present at Columbia College of Missouri.

one more comment, having read Dr. R’s academic background, he may have been at UT while I was a meandering philosophy major at Texas A&M. Or he may have already graduated……..the point is , he was in Texas when I was, and somehow that connects me more to his spirit. Sappy? No, I am just very sentimental about where I have been and where I am now. Because of being exposed to his works and to another’s, and my current professors, I chose to take my major studies in sociology (theory and practical application) and history.

Hi, I am trying to contact Rick’s son Marshall. I just finished a massive poster project in philosophy and probably could not have pulled it off without Rick. He was truly a modern Socratic figure committed to truth and humility. My question is simple and straightforward. As someone who knew him intimately; how do I deal with a world like this? Can you offer any advice? On a regular basis now I wake in the morning convinced I am Alice with big black hair and a big red dress; I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole; and it’s the mad hatter over there and the smiling cat over there and talking furniture over there …. you get the point. All our political candidates are characters out of a South Park cartoon. How does one find some kind of engagement yet also some kind of detached concern? I am experimenting with imagery work and mythologies just to sort of get through the day … but it occurred to me to ask you. He really was extraordinary.

Mark, anyone out there. We are witnessing the apotheosis of the postmodern man that Roderick forewarned. We are at a profoundly dangerous time in human history. What would he say to explain this? What are to prospects for the self? Has the siege ended? These lectures are an immense resource. If there is a community or group promoting or interested in promoting Roderick’s message please let me know.

I owe so many hours of deep delight and existential concern to Rick Roderick, I keep coming back to his lectures like a good piece of music, he introduced me to philosophy much in the same manner of Robert C Solomon by clear speaking and plain understanding, yet his lectures are still filled with a sophisticated delivery, thank you so much Rick, you are a true philosopher.

What a gift. thank you for making this available I have learnt more from this lectures than I did my entire school days. It’s saddening the naivete with which the American culture has been received especially in Africa (where I’m from) I always believed that American people are “free” but they are only free within limits of a transparent chain that is virtually impossible for people to even acknowledge. And then I saw the Virtual reality porn being made by Naughty America it’s almost prophetic! https://goo.gl/PHAvLL R.I.P Rick in his words I too hope there will be resistance.

for the past two years I have enjoyed Roderick’s style of teaching and his amazing talent for analyzing complex concepts. I wonder about his personal life, was he married ? Did he have children ? If so, maybe they have more info as to why he was fired from Duke?

Rick had lots of bad habits from 3 packs of cigarettes a day to a horrible diet and reliance on a complex pharmacy of pills. He also had some trouble controlling his appetite with students (He told me this himself in a variety of ways and it was confirmed by a woman I talked to at Duke when I was first trying to track him down) which most certainly would have given them an excuse to oust him especially if his views were challenging to their status quo but he largely brought his troubles upon himself including his early death. I believe this was because he was a creature of extreme existential angst which my research says may be related to an accidental death that he was some how responsible for in his late teen years.

Dave,
This is not research in that sense. I knew Rick for a brief period of time in 1998 and met with him down at UT where he was an adjunct professor after his time at Duke and then in Los Angeles. It was eye-opening to say the least.

Just watched a lecture by Rick on Hegel on YouTube. I found it via random search on Hegel. What a gem of a thinker. I was looking forward to seeing recent work but sadly this mind is no longer with us. Just wanted to take a moment to say thanks for preserving his work.

Fortunately, I have all your Teaching Company courses and your book. The first time I heard you was an epiphany–I realized that I had found the perfect teacher and your courage, wisdom, and compassion will be with me until my end. And I fear death less because it comes as a great relief to me that I will then join you in the place beyond this. RIP!

Sorry to hear you have trouble viewing the videos. They work for me. Can you elaborate on which page you were accessing and how you were accessing it? The embedded videos are all working as far as I know.

Thank you for this page. Rick Roderick is truly edifying, and if it is true a person can live on through their works, no doubt he will be the testament to this maxim.

Also, I can’t help but notice this page doesn’t seem to have a link or button for donations.

Computer science isn’t my strongest suit, but I do know sites cost money to maintain. I’ll admit, I’m not the most charitable in this world, but for this is would seem fitting to part with a few bucks if it means the continued existence of this incredible resource.

I was a student at Duke University and got to have Rick as my teacher in an Intro to Logic course taught during the summer term, not even a year before he was shunned by Duke and moved to UT Austin.

During that summer term, he wore the same black t-shirt of the rap group Public Enemy’s biggest album, “Fear of a Black Planet” every day, and I do remember him wearing a blazer over it, just to give him more maturity and make him look more professorial. He was sooo much bigger than life, forever smoking out the open window and venting to us about how the crypto-Klansmen of the Duke faculty had denied him tenure because he didn’t fit their Harvard Yahd-wanna-be image to any degree, despite his enormous magnetism and genuinely singular knowledge of the subject matter.

At the beginning of the logic course he made a point of telling us that, while logic was somewhat interesting and useful for computer programming and probably artificial intelligence, it played virtually no role in human affairs because the overwhelming majority of people were “pre-biased Nazis” who merely back-rationalized all their various proclivities and petty xenophobias. On more than one occasion he would stick his head out the window and yell “FUCK YOU, TOO” at the top of his lungs out to the quad, at the rest of the campus and, most importantly, the pretentious, overconceited faculty who had rejected him because they placed bland superficial diversity over real and radical diversity of opinion and perspective.

And, of course, Rick wouldn’t be the first real person of superior substance that Duke would reject — they rejected everyone who didn’t fit their crypto-conservative, strictly-Northern-Europeanist, fetish. In time they would also reject people like Henry “Skip” Gates and David Castriota, both of whom were just powerhouse professors who absolutely taught their classes with an absolute “redpill” tendency.

Maybe someone should make a movie about Rick Roderick, and call it “It Came From West Texas”. Or something like that.

I admire Rick Roderick as one of the most brilliant minds of our time or any time in human history. To think he was to be found in West Texas just shows that gemstones are formed in unlikely and barren looking places. I only wish I had known him personally as a student or as a friend. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a wiser or more compassionate intellect in my 65 years on this strange planet. This world is so much poorer for his passing. RIP Rick.

After searching and not succeeding in finding *’modern’ quality audio versions of these lectures, I took it upon myself to try and ‘remaster’ using the videos as the source. The results have been quite nice and I think worth sharing for those like who listening to the great courses while on the go. I’ve managed to *nearly eliminate the tape hiss sound without distortion of Rick’s voice and compressed the audio in AAC-LC for small size high quality. I hope you guys will enjoy it. Cheers.

Thanks, I have now changed it to link to an archive copy. The “what happened to rick roderick?” page was the main Rick Roderick site for a long time until they needed to disable the comments due to robot spam. It seems to be permanently offline.

I was wondering about the original VHS tapes. Does anyone know if there was ever a release with the Question and Answers? He keeps alluding to question and answer period and I am pretty intrigued. Also, the last video of one of his talks seems a lot shorter at like 33 minutes and cuts out fairly abruptly. Is that intended? I have only found the videos on youtube. Just wondering as I’ve watched each series at least 3 times completely, if not more and I want to squeeze every bit I can. What a lucid orator, truly appreciate the “for the non-footnoting public” style of talk and the folk-ism style he employs.

Why is it Marxist and Critical Theory professors have this simplistic rigid interpretation of hierarchical power structures? Sex, race, ethnicity and religion aren’t exclusive criteria of hierarchical systems. Social status or class. “You may meet all the above criteria but without an Ivy League degree you’ll never get a job in ‘The State Department’. Makaveli put it best
there are two groups of people the “great” and the “people”. The “great” wish to oppress and rule the “people”, while the “people” wish not to be ruled or oppressed.
To think a peasants or surfs benefited fmore than slaves is foolish. Whether be feudal, communism or facsism are collective ideologies that in practicality end just the same, authoritarian rule of a select few at the expense of the masses and benefits those on top of the hierarchy.
The collectivization of private property and mean of production (whatever that means) is to deny the proletariat the fruits of their labor. Capitalism (voluntary exchange) is by no means a perfect solution the collective I Central planning has always had horrible results. If individuals working on their personal interest can’t be trusted then how could a person be trusted with sole authority? Marxism, socialism monopolizes what it seeks to aviod. It’s an idealistic ideology suffering from a severe
case of psychological projection.

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Raymond Candelaria September 15, 2019 at 2:52 am on AboutWhy is it Marxist and Critical Theory professors have this simplistic rigid interpretation of hierarchical power structures? Sex, race, ethnicity and religion aren't exclusive criteria of hierarchical systems. Social status or class. "You may meet all the above criteria but without an Ivy League degree you'll never get a job in 'The State Department'. Makaveli put it best
there are two groups of people the "great" and the "people". The "great" wish to oppress and rule the "people", while the "people" wish not to be ruled or oppressed.
To think a peasants or surfs benefited fmore than slaves is foolish. Whether be feudal, communism or facsism are collective ideologies that in practicality end just the same, authoritarian rule of a select few at the expense of the masses and benefits those on top of the hierarchy.
The collectivization of private property and mean of production (whatever that means) is to deny the proletariat the fruits of their labor. Capitalism (voluntary exchange) is by no means a perfect solution the collective I Central planning has always had horrible results. If individuals working on their personal interest can't be trusted then how could a person be trusted with sole authority? Marxism, socialism monopolizes what it seeks to aviod. It's an idealistic ideology suffering from a severe
case of psychological projection.

Tingting Zhou August 7, 2019 at 6:32 am on 208 Nietzsche’s Progeny (1991)Thanks for this brilliant and insightful lectures, and thanks for sharing it without boundaries. There are more and more human lives coming to world, and less and less human in its real sense. It’s always unsettling for me that people might eventually stop fighting and give up feeling. Thanks Rick.

Magne August 1, 2019 at 4:25 am on AboutBrilliant! Thanks so much for sharing this!

ctrlshift July 31, 2019 at 2:31 pm on In MemoriumThanks for posting this Max. It was worth the wait.

Ward July 16, 2019 at 7:50 am on AboutI was wondering about the original VHS tapes. Does anyone know if there was ever a release with the Question and Answers? He keeps alluding to question and answer period and I am pretty intrigued. Also, the last video of one of his talks seems a lot shorter at like 33 minutes and cuts out fairly abruptly. Is that intended? I have only found the videos on youtube. Just wondering as I've watched each series at least 3 times completely, if not more and I want to squeeze every bit I can. What a lucid orator, truly appreciate the "for the non-footnoting public" style of talk and the folk-ism style he employs.

Hiram July 9, 2019 at 1:38 am on AboutSome folks really are born posthumously...
In the minds of those they touch.
I feel fortunate to have been "touched" in this way.

Jade Aslain June 7, 2019 at 12:29 pm on 208 Nietzsche’s Progeny (1991)Speaking of "first lines," it should be noted that the phrase "everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation or an image," comes from the first line of the *Society of the Spectacle* by Guy Debord.

Fatih Kilic May 16, 2019 at 3:24 am on AboutAmazing! Thanks for sharing your Duke history with us!

Fatih Kilic May 13, 2019 at 11:39 am on AboutHi Marshall,
Sending this message from the Netherlands.
I just wanted to share that I am very grateful that I have found your dad's lecture series. He seems to be an amazing personality! He thought me a lot and I think his voice has been a wake-up call in some way.
I am thinking of sharing his lectures with my professors and have already shared it to some friends, so that more people can enjoy what he has left to the world.
All the very best.

ctrlshift May 10, 2019 at 12:28 pm on In MemoriumThe documentary didn't work out unfortunately. I am not sure how far they got, however I do know that they got as far as interviewing some of Rick's family, but ultimately abandoned the project. There is some commentary about it in Max Roderick's essay which will be published here when Max is ready.